Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Apparently the way I'm saying hello to August is with terrible photography. (Sorry about that. Sub-par camera, bad light, in a hurry...)

Just a quick WIP Wednesday and Yarnalong check-in with my latest crocheted silliness---a shawl for the Ravellenics. I'd promised myself I was going to stick to little stuff---toys and hats for charity, say. And I'm still hoping to do a couple of those! But I also got all caught up in the spirit of Challenging Yourself and Using Awesome Yarn, etc. etc., and bought a pattern I'd been eying forever for this particular skein of gorgeous yarn.

So I'm makin' myself up a Dinosaur Tail. I'm so jealous of all of those amazing, spiky-beautiful Hitchhiker shawls you knitter-types make, and I need some spikes of my own. I'm a bit sad at how much these are curling (such is crochet), and am hoping that a stern blocking when I'm done (which, spoiler alert, will probably not be in time for a "medal" in Shawl Sailing) will fix 'em. It's a really nice pattern, though---just two super-simple rows, so it's easy to keep track of where I am, which is a most excellent quality. And I'm loving working with the yarn and watching the colours pop up.

In the way of reading, I've been remembering my love for graphic novels recently (pictures! and so quick to read!), and am currently remembering that love with Sarah Oleksyk's Ivy, which is...harsh. Its central character is a high school girl, and the blurb on the back praises the novel for being about high school as it actually is, which is true---and a little bit difficult, because it reminds me in a tidal wave of regret about just how awfullypeople behave and treat each other at that age, how much everything hurts and seems huge and unfair and makes lashing out seem like the only solution. Eek. Obviously the fact that it makes me flinch and feel retroactively mortified at my teenage self is a sign that it's well-written (and it's also wonderfully illustrated), but picking it up to read can be a mixed-bag experience.